pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Strategy and planning

Wrigley, 1892. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

The free gift kept winning, so he sold the free gift. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Pivot memo

  • $32 to start
  • 2 free packs per can
  • 1.5M homes mailed
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1892 Pivot memo

Wrigley

The free gift kept winning, so he sold the free gift.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→10 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

Wrigley's pivot memo, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. Wrigley deck, slide 1: We are a gum company. We just found out. 01We are a gum company. We just found out.
  2. Wrigley deck, slide 2: We sold soap. The gift was a detail. 02We sold soap. The gift was a detail.
  3. Wrigley deck, slide 3: Twice in two years, the free gift beat the product. 03Twice in two years, the free gift beat the product.
  4. Wrigley deck, slide 4: The free gift is now the product. 04The free gift is now the product.
  5. Wrigley deck, slide 5: We stop selling soap. Effective today. 05We stop selling soap. Effective today.
  6. Wrigley deck, slide 6: We keep the engine. Only the gift changes. 06We keep the engine. Only the gift changes.
  7. Wrigley deck, slide 7: Four ways this goes wrong, and what we do about each. 07Four ways this goes wrong, and what we do about each.
  8. Wrigley deck, slide 8: Six milestones, each with a date. 08Six milestones, each with a date.
  9. Wrigley deck, slide 9: In 1915 the free gift is the campaign. 09In 1915 the free gift is the campaign.
  10. Wrigley deck, slide 10: Approve the pivot. Keep the free gift. 10Approve the pivot. Keep the free gift.

Then · 1892

How it really went

Read the real storythe story, via Wikipedia and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company history
  1. April 1891: Wrigley, 29, arrives in Chicago with $32 to sell his father's Scouring Soap
  2. He throws in baking powder as a free premium
  3. Customers want the baking powder more, so he sells baking powder
  4. He throws in two packages of chewing gum with every can
  5. Customers want the gum more; in 1892 he drops soap for good
  6. First gums, Lotta and Vassar, made by Zeno Manufacturing
  7. 1893: Wrigley's Spearmint and Juicy Fruit
  8. 1907: in a panic, $250,000 borrowed buys $1.5 million of advertising
  9. By 1910 Spearmint is the best-selling gum in America
  10. 1915: a free pack mailed to about 1.5 million homes in the phone book
  11. 1916 to 1926: the Cubs, the Wrigley Building, Wrigley Field

Now · 2026 · 10 slides

What we changed

  • The freebie wins, on a chartFlip between what Wrigley pushed and what customers asked for, and watch baking powder win round one, get promoted, and lose round two to the gum.
  • A kill switch for soapThree product lines, three switches. Soap goes gray and gets struck through. The gum switch refuses to turn off.
  • The free-gift engineA flywheel that runs 1891, 1892 and the next year: sell the thing, give a gift, hear what they ask for, sell that instead.
  • Milestones on a sliderDrag from 1892 to 1921 and watch Spearmint, the 1907 ad gamble, the phone-book mailing and the Wrigley Building land on schedule.

Steal the structure

Build your pivot memo like Wrigley did.

  1. 01 The claim Say the pivot in one sentence, to the people who have to live with it.
  2. 02 What we believed State the old plan plainly, with its numbers, before anyone rewrites history.
  3. 03 The signal Show the customer behavior that broke the plan, as evidence, not opinion.
  4. 04 The new bet Name what you now sell and to whom, and show it.
  5. 05 What we stop Name what ends, with a date. A pivot that keeps everything is not a pivot.
  6. 06 What carries over The assets, customers and skills that survive, so the team knows what still counts.
  7. 07 Risks A register: each risk, what could go wrong, and what you will do about it.
  8. 08 Milestones Dated checkpoints that will prove the bet right, or wrong, early.
  9. 09 Proof at scale The one number that shows what the new model looks like when it works.
  10. 10 The ask What you need approved and resourced, in three line items, and the return.

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